| | Event type

200 metres Breaststroke, Men

Date	26 – 30 August 1960
Status	Olympic
Location	Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto, Roma
Participants	42 from 30 countries

The world record in 1960 was held by Australia’s Terry Gathercole who had placed fourth at the Melbourne Olympics in this event, and he was back in Rome. But the times were much slower in Rome as underwater breaststroke had been ruled illegal as of 30 April 1957. In the semis, Bill Mulliken of the USA set an Olympic record for the new style, recording 2:37.2, far better than his personal best of 2:40.9 coming into Rome. He won the final in 2:37.4, edging out Japan’s Yoshihiko Osaki who posted 2:38.0. Gathercole made the final but placed sixth.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Bill Mulliken	USA	2:38.0 (1 h1)	2:37.2 (1 h1)	2:37.4 (1)	Gold
2	Yoshihiko Osaki	JPN	2:39.1 (1 h6)	2:38.2 (2 h1)	2:38.0 (2)	Silver
3	Wieger Mensonides	NED	2:39.0 (1 h3)	2:39.3 (2 h2)	2:39.7 (3)	Bronze
4	Egon Henninger	GER	2:42.4 (4 h5)	2:38.5 (3 h1)	2:40.1 (4)
5	Roberto Lazzari	ITA	2:41.2 (2 h3)	2:40.3 (4 h1)	2:40.1 (5)
6	Terry Gathercole	AUS	2:41.7 (2 h4)	2:39.1 (1 h2)	2:40.2 (6)
7	Andrzej Kłopotowski	POL	2:41.4 (2 h5)	2:40.8 (4 h2)	2:41.2 (7)
8	Paul Hait	USA	2:40.8 (1 h5)	2:39.6 (3 h2)	2:41.4 (8)
9	Arkady Golovchenko	URS	2:41.0 (1 h2)	2:40.9 (5 h1)	–
10	Georgy Prokopenko	URS	2:39.2 (2 h1)	2:41.0 (5 h2)	–
11	Mihai Mitrofan	ROU	2:41.8 (4 h2)	2:41.6 (6 h1)	–
12	Christopher Walkden	GBR	2:41.5 (3 h2)	2:41.7 (7 h1)	–
13	Gilbert Desmit	BEL	2:42.4 (2 h6)	2:41.8 (6 h2)	–
14	Isao Masuda	JPN	2:41.2 (1 h4)	2:42.3 (7 h2)	–
15	György Kunsági	HUN	2:42.2 (3 h5)	2:42.4 (8 h2)	–
16	Đorđe Perišić	YUG	2:41.1 (2 h2)	2:44.2 (8 h1)	–
17	Vítězslav Svozil	TCH	2:42.4 (5 h5)	–	–
18	Tommie Lindström	SWE	2:42.8 (3 h6)	–	–
19	Pekka Lairola	FIN	2:43.3 (3 h4)	–	–
20	William Burton	AUS	2:43.9 (4 h6)	–	–
21	Konrad Enke	GER	2:44.6 (3 h3)	–	–
22	Gerard Rowlinson	GBR	2:45.0 (3 h1)	–	–
23	Bernt Nilsson	SWE	2:45.7 (4 h4)	–	–
24	Richard Audoly	FRA	2:46.5 (4 h3)	–	–
25	Steve Rabinovitch	CAN	2:47.2 (5 h4)	–	–
26	Farid Zablith Filho	BRA	2:48.6 (5 h2)	–	–
27	Engin Ünal	TUR	2:49.0 (4 h1)	–	–
28	Guillermo Alsina	ESP	2:51.4 (5 h6)	–	–
29	Gershon Shefa	ISR	2:51.7 (6 h6)	–	–
30	Laurel Lee	TPE	2:52.8 (6 h4)	–	–
31	Emilio Díaz	ESP	2:52.9 (6 h5)	–	–
32	Trương Ke Nhon	VNM	2:53.0 (7 h5)	–	–
33	Antonio Saloso	PHI	2:53.3 (5 h1)	–	–
34	Pierpaolo Spangaro	ITA	2:53.8 (5 h3)	–	–
35	Roland Boullanger	FRA	2:54.4 (6 h2)	–	–
36	Nikolaos Zacharopoulos	GRE	2:56.4 (7 h6)	–	–
37	Werner Risi	SUI	2:56.6 (7 h4)	–	–
38	Nicolas Wildhaber	SUI	2:58.7 (7 h2)	–	–
39	Tony Williams	SRI	2:59.8 (6 h3)	–	–
DQ	Gerald Brauner	AUT	– (DQ h1)	–	–
DQ	Erny Schweitzer	LUX	– (DQ h5)	–	–
DQ	László Felkai	HUN	– (DQ h1)	–	–
DNS	Otman Siregar	INA	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	Adrian Oanţă	ROU	– (DNS h1)	–	–

Round One (26 – 27 August 1960 — 21:10)

Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	5	Bill Mulliken	USA	1:16.9 (2) 1:21.1 (1)	2:38.0	Q
2	4	Georgy Prokopenko	URS	1:15.7 (1) 1:23.5 (2)	2:39.2	Q
3	6	Gerard Rowlinson	GBR	1:18.8 (3) 1:26.2 (3)	2:45.0
4	2	Engin Ünal	TUR	1:20.3 (4) 1:28.7 (4)	2:49.0
5	7	Antonio Saloso	PHI	1:20.7 (5) 1:32.6 (5)	2:53.3
DQ	1	László Felkai	HUN	– (–) –	–
DQ	8	Gerald Brauner	AUT	– (–) –	–
DNS	3	Adrian Oanţă	ROU	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	4	Arkady Golovchenko	URS	1:16.0 (1) 1:25.0 (3)	2:41.0	Q
2	3	Đorđe Perišić	YUG	1:17.4 (4) 1:23.7 (1)	2:41.1	Q
3	6	Christopher Walkden	GBR	1:17.3 (3) 1:24.2 (2)	2:41.5	Q
4	5	Mihai Mitrofan	ROU	1:16.3 (2) 1:25.5 (4)	2:41.8	Q
5	7	Farid Zablith Filho	BRA	1:19.0 (5) 1:29.6 (5)	2:48.6
6	8	Roland Boullanger	FRA	1:19.8 (6) 1:34.6 (6)	2:54.4
7	2	Nicolas Wildhaber	SUI	1:23.8 (7) 1:34.9 (7)	2:58.7

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	5	Wieger Mensonides	NED	1:17.5 (1) 1:21.5 (1)	2:39.0	Q
2	3	Roberto Lazzari	ITA	1:18.3 (3) 1:22.9 (2)	2:41.2	Q
3	4	Konrad Enke	GER	1:17.8 (2) 1:26.8 (4)	2:44.6
4	2	Richard Audoly	FRA	1:20.5 (5) 1:26.0 (3)	2:46.5
5	6	Pierpaolo Spangaro	ITA	1:19.5 (4) 1:34.3 (5)	2:53.8
6	1	Tony Williams	SRI	1:22.1 (6) 1:37.7 (6)	2:59.8
DNS	7	Otman Siregar	INA	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	5	Isao Masuda	JPN	1:18.4 (=2) 1:22.8 (1)	2:41.2	Q
2	4	Terry Gathercole	AUS	1:18.5 (4) 1:23.2 (2)	2:41.7	Q
3	2	Pekka Lairola	FIN	1:16.9 (1) 1:26.4 (3)	2:43.3
4	3	Bernt Nilsson	SWE	1:19.0 (5) 1:26.7 (4)	2:45.7
5	6	Steve Rabinovitch	CAN	1:18.4 (=2) 1:28.8 (5)	2:47.2
6	7	Laurel Lee	TPE	1:19.3 (6) 1:33.5 (6)	2:52.8
7	1	Werner Risi	SUI	1:22.0 (7) 1:34.6 (7)	2:56.6

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	5	Paul Hait	USA	1:15.0 (1) 1:25.8 (3)	2:40.8	Q
2	8	Andrzej Kłopotowski	POL	1:16.9 (5) 1:24.5 (1)	2:41.4	Q
3	3	György Kunsági	HUN	1:16.7 (4) 1:25.5 (2)	2:42.2	Q
4	4	Egon Henninger	GER	1:15.3 (2) 1:27.1 (5)	2:42.4	q
5	6	Vítězslav Svozil	TCH	1:16.2 (3) 1:26.2 (4)	2:42.4	q
6	7	Emilio Díaz	ESP	1:22.1 (7) 1:30.8 (6)	2:52.9
7	2	Trương Ke Nhon	VNM	1:21.5 (6) 1:31.5 (7)	2:53.0
DQ	1	Erny Schweitzer	LUX	– (–) –	–

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	4	Yoshihiko Osaki	JPN	1:16.7 (2) 1:22.4 (1)	2:39.1	Q
2	6	Gilbert Desmit	BEL	1:17.2 (3) 1:25.2 (2)	2:42.4	q
3	5	Tommie Lindström	SWE	1:16.5 (1) 1:26.3 (4)	2:42.8
4	3	William Burton	AUS	1:18.4 (4) 1:25.5 (3)	2:43.9
5	7	Guillermo Alsina	ESP	1:21.7 (6) 1:29.7 (5)	2:51.4
6	2	Gershon Shefa	ISR	1:21.1 (5) 1:30.6 (6)	2:51.7
7	1	Nikolaos Zacharopoulos	GRE	1:24.2 (7) 1:32.2 (7)	2:56.4

Swim-Off (27 August 1960 — 15:40)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	4	Egon Henninger	GER	1:14.8 (1) 1:24.7 (1)	2:39.5	Q
2	5	Gilbert Desmit	BEL	1:16.2 (3) 1:24.9 (2)	2:41.1	Q
3	3	Vítězslav Svozil	TCH	1:16.1 (2) 1:25.6 (3)	2:41.7

Semi-Finals (29 August 1960 — 20:40)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	4	Bill Mulliken	USA	1:16.1 (3) 1:21.1 (1)	2:37.2	Q
2	5	Yoshihiko Osaki	JPN	1:14.7 (2) 1:23.5 (=2)	2:38.2	Q
3	8	Egon Henninger	GER	1:14.4 (1) 1:24.1 (4)	2:38.5	Q
4	2	Roberto Lazzari	ITA	1:16.8 (5) 1:23.5 (=2)	2:40.3	Q
5	3	Arkady Golovchenko	URS	1:16.2 (4) 1:24.7 (=6)	2:40.9
6	1	Mihai Mitrofan	ROU	1:17.1 (7) 1:24.5 (5)	2:41.6
7	7	Christopher Walkden	GBR	1:17.0 (6) 1:24.7 (=6)	2:41.7
8	6	Đorđe Perišić	YUG	1:17.6 (8) 1:26.6 (8)	2:44.2

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	7	Terry Gathercole	AUS	1:16.9 (4) 1:22.2 (1)	2:39.1	Q
2	4	Wieger Mensonides	NED	1:17.0 (=5) 1:22.3 (2)	2:39.3	Q
3	3	Paul Hait	USA	1:15.8 (1) 1:23.8 (3)	2:39.6	Q
4	2	Andrzej Kłopotowski	POL	1:16.3 (2) 1:24.5 (5)	2:40.8	Q
5	5	Georgy Prokopenko	URS	1:17.0 (=5) 1:24.0 (4)	2:41.0
6	8	Gilbert Desmit	BEL	1:16.8 (3) 1:25.0 (7)	2:41.8
7	6	Isao Masuda	JPN	1:17.4 (8) 1:24.9 (6)	2:42.3
8	1	György Kunsági	HUN	1:17.0 (=5) 1:25.4 (8)	2:42.4

Final (30 August 1960 — 22:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	4	Bill Mulliken	USA	1:17.1 (4) 1:20.3 (=1)	2:37.4
2	5	Yoshihiko Osaki	JPN	1:17.7 (6) 1:20.3 (=1)	2:38.0
3	2	Wieger Mensonides	NED	1:17.8 (7) 1:21.9 (4)	2:39.7
4	3	Egon Henninger	GER	1:14.6 (1) 1:25.5 (8)	2:40.1
5	1	Roberto Lazzari	ITA	1:18.6 (8) 1:21.5 (3)	2:40.1
6	6	Terry Gathercole	AUS	1:15.8 (2) 1:24.4 (6)	2:40.2
7	8	Andrzej Kłopotowski	POL	1:17.5 (5) 1:23.7 (5)	2:41.2
8	7	Paul Hait	USA	1:16.4 (3) 1:25.0 (7)	2:41.4